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Mitch Brown played 94 senior games in a decade-long AFL career with the West Coast Eagles, yet he\u2019s far better known for what he did after he retired \u2013 namely, coming out in August as bisexual. When news of his sexuality broke this winter, Brown, 36, became the first publicly queer senior AFL\/VFL player (current or retired) in the 129-year history of the competition.<\/p>\n
Long before that, he grew up in country Victoria alongside his twin brother Nathan (who played 183 games for Collingwood and St Kilda), the pair honing their skills in chilly Ballarat. Brown, who is straight-presenting, also later married professional netball player Shae Bolton-Brown (with whom he has two sons). He spends his working time now in a consulting role with First Nations people.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a big couple of months for you\u2009\u2026 It\u2019s still surreal. I\u2019ve been trying to ride the wave. Even if I wasn\u2019t a footballer coming out publicly, coming out internally to my family and my brother is a big thing for my own life as a human. It\u2019s been a big phase. No one has put any obligation on me to continue to share my story, or advocate for the queer community \u2013 particularly in sport \u2013 but I do feel like I have this opportunity.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a good way to look at it. The former CEO of the AFL, Gillon McLachlan, once said that the first player to come out would likely carry it as a burden. Whether it\u2019s a burden for me or a gift, I feel while people are listening \u2013 and in particular, people that may not have listened before to a queer man \u2013 I do have this responsibility as a custodian.<\/p>\n
Blunt question. Why are you the first? How did it take more than a century for an AFL player to share this with the world? When I was playing, the conversation around who would be the first person to come out \u2013 in the locker rooms (\u201cWho is it?\u201d) was quite toxic in itself \u2013 and we would talk about it when it came up in the media. I guess Australian rules football is unique. It\u2019s in its own silo and quite protected. The game is embedded into our psyche and culture. It\u2019s this sacred representation of the Australian man, and it\u2019s built this environment where it\u2019s not safe to step outside of that brand \u2013 outside of what it means to be an Australian man and the straightness of that.<\/p>\n
Average crowds are 30,000-plus every weekend \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of people out there, and you can hear them. And it\u2019s also at this point where your career is so short that it\u2019s not worth it to come out. That was the general consensus from the playing group. Why would you come out? Why would you take on this burden that could potentially disrupt your career, your performance, your team, your ability to make income? Why do that when you can just play it straight in a straight game, then afterwards, ride off into the sunset and do what you want in your community and come out then, public or not?<\/p>\n
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Mitch Brown at a 2013 AFL game in Perth, playing one of 94 senior games for the Eagles.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
I want to go next to a question that comes up every time an athlete comes out: \u201cWho cares?\u201d It\u2019s well-meaning from many people \u2013 who want to show that sexuality isn\u2019t a big deal for them \u2013 but it\u2019s also dismissive. A lot of people just aren\u2019t equipped enough to know what to say. I remember when one of my good friends growing up, his sister was tragically killed in a car accident, and I was there when he was told over the phone, and I just didn\u2019t know what to say to him, so I probably just blabbered out anything, and there\u2019s an element of that. There was silence from some of my mates for a couple of weeks after I came out, because they didn\u2019t know what to say to me. But with \u201cWho cares?\u201c, I kind of laugh at that, because if you\u2019re consuming that news and commenting on it, you do care.<\/p>\n
But also, if someone stands up and steps outside of their box, we\u2019re kind enough to go, \u201cWell done mate, good job, we\u2019ll take you for a day or a few Instagram posts or a few interviews, but if you keep continually talking about this and showing up on my feed, then you\u2019re making me feel a bit uncomfortable: Can you get back inside your box?\u201d But I will always take a beat and remind myself that I need to meet people where they\u2019re at, because if they\u2019re blocking the way to making a safer place, I want to sit down and talk with them, and get them a little closer to that sense of acceptance.<\/p>\n
Australian basketball player Isaac Humphries, who is currently the only out gay male professional player in the world, responded to the \u201cWho cares?\u201d question by pointing out that an array of people care deeply. A gay kid growing up playing basketball and feeling unwelcome. Anyone from the queer community who\u2019s suicidal. Any person subject to homophobia. Anyone who might take hope from seeing themselves represented in elite sport. Wow. I got little goosebumps hearing that.<\/p>\n
What was the response like for you, maybe starting with the good? Did your phone just light up for the fortnight afterwards? It still lights up.<\/p>\n
\u2018I wanted to shine a light on \u2026 your ability as a man to show up as you are, and not what people think you should be.\u2019<\/p>\n
Mitch Brown<\/p>\n
Who did you hear from first? Halfway through my career, there was a workshop we had at the footy club, and a picture came up in a lecture theatre of Daniel Kowalski, the Olympic swimmer. And I loved Daniel Kowalski and Kieren Perkins and how they would verse one another in the 1500 metres, and the photo was his coming-out story<\/a>. He stood there and he said, \u201cI\u2019m Daniel Kowalski, out and proud,\u201d and I sat there in that lecture theatre, and I felt something. I could just see the joy. My news went out about 11.10am on Wednesday, August 28, and not long after I got a LinkedIn message: the first message I got was from Daniel Kowalski. And for the first time, I let him know that he was my role model.<\/p>\n There were people in the street, young people, middle-aged men, who felt safe enough to confide in me and message me their stories, and there were thousands of those messages. When someone reaches out, and they can\u2019t tell anyone else in the world \u2013 not even their partner, not even their parents, their best mates \u2013 you\u2019re like, \u201cHow can I not take this on?\u201d<\/p>\n There was this kid in my local cafe, and I was sitting down and he comes out from the other side of the bench with the coffee machine, and there\u2019s tears in his eyes, and he goes, \u201cHey Mitch\u201d \u2013 and he\u2019s crying \u2013 \u201cI just want to say thank you, I\u2019m a gay man, and you don\u2019t know how much this means to me.\u201d He was shaking. And that was when the enormity of what I had done really hit home.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always maintained the fact that I didn\u2019t do this for me. I was quite happily out within my own little friendship group and community. I\u2019m straight-presenting with a woman as a partner. I didn\u2019t have to do this, but I wanted to shine a light on homophobia in sport, but more importantly, on your ability as a man to show up as you are, and not what people think you should be.<\/p>\n Mitch (right) aged 10 with his twin brother Nathan, who played 183 games for Collingwood and St Kilda \u2013 the pair appearing here for Haddon Primary School.Credit: Courtesy of Mitch Brown<\/p>\n There was homophobia and hate within the reactions, too, but what about the silence? You called out certain football clubs for failing to recognise the moment \u2013 for squandering a chance to show fans that they care? The silence was so loud. You hear it and wonder: Are they offended? Are they homophobic? It does hurt. People would go, \u201cMe me me, you\u2019re just an attention-seeker,\u201d but I had so many people contact me and say, \u201cSorry Mitch, my club didn\u2019t acknowledge anything, and as a queer supporter of that club, it makes me feel like absolute crap.\u201d And that\u2019s the point. The acknowledgement is for them.<\/p>\n What was the reaction like from the AFL head office \u2013 did the powerbrokers come to you immediately, asking you to become a kind of diversity and inclusion ambassador? Particular people in league HQ have been amazing \u2013 [executive GM of operations] Laura Kane, [chief operating officer] Tom Harley and [GM First Nations engagement and inclusion]Taryn Lee. I have this new opportunity. Maybe I\u2019m more palatable because I\u2019m bisexual, and have a woman as a partner. I won\u2019t be the \u201cangry queer man\u201d, if that makes sense. And the league office has been good: Let\u2019s talk about this, not just be performative about this, let\u2019s actually look behind the scenes and see how we can change things in the men\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n Homophobia has reared its head in the AFL over the past two years, with a handful of players suspended for offensive comments. The most high-profile example happened shortly before you came out, when Adelaide Crows star Izak Rankine<\/a> was suspended for directing a homophobic slur at a Collingwood opponent \u2013 and effectively ruled out for the season ahead of a highly anticipated finals campaign. The two teams then played one another in finals, and Isaac Quaynor (the player who was abused) was booed all night long<\/a> by the Adelaide crowd. What was it like, hearing that collective howl? I remember watching that. From the football club \u2013 the Adelaide coach, the CEO \u2013 they had the opportunity to stand up and proudly condemn this behaviour, and say, \u201cThis is not what we\u2019re about,\u201d and they didn\u2019t choose to do that. The league office and the AFL \u2013 and they\u2019ve seen it with the booing of Adam Goodes, which drove one of the legends out of our game \u2013 had the same opportunity to say, \u201cWe don\u2019t accept this antisocial behaviour \u2013 whether it\u2019s homophobic or racist \u2013 because we are striving for a safe and inclusive environment in the stands.\u201d And they didn\u2019t say anything. And what that says to the people in those crowds is, \u201cWe\u2019re accepting this.\u201d<\/p>\n AFL player Izak Rankine was Let\u2019s go back to Ballarat in regional Victoria, where you attended St Patrick\u2019s College \u2013 an all-boys school steeped in stoicism. You\u2019ve noted that homophobic language there was like breathing, and you yourself said homophobic things, too, just to fit in. Is that part of why you reached out to comfort Izak Rankine? Izak has been on the end of a lot of racist comments \u2013 he understands what it feels like to be on the other side. I saw him do a press conference and I could see the emotion. I reached out to him to say, \u201cHey man, you\u2019re not a bad person, you\u2019re an amazing role model for so many people and remember that.\u201d He\u2019s been amazing since. He\u2019s done things outside of what\u2019s expected from the club, and I love that. With people like Izak \u2013 and I genuinely mean this \u2013 it\u2019s not their fault. It\u2019s embedded in our psyche, our culture, and that\u2019s from a young age \u2013 school, what we watch. It\u2019s become this everyday casualness, and it paves the way for more harmful behaviour as a result of that everyday disrespect.<\/p>\n We get really sensitive on calling out a comment or a post or language \u2013 whether it\u2019s at the pub or group chat or Mad Monday celebrations \u2013 but for young Mitch, who\u2019s sitting there at 17 years old, and he\u2019s flown to the other side of the country, from Ballarat to Perth, and he\u2019s at the pub with grown men and they\u2019re throwing around these casual jokes about being gay. For that hyper-sensitive young, queer person that\u2019s exploring and trying to answer questions inside of himself, he\u2019s going, \u201cWow, this is not safe. There\u2019s no way I\u2019m sharing that I might be attracted to men.\u201d<\/p>\n But you did try to share that truth, not long after, with a trusted teammate? I got drafted in year 11, first time on a plane, first time away from my twin brother, so I had this forced coming-of-age moment. I felt more ability to shape my identity and I started to build confidence in that, and I thought about these things I\u2019m asking myself \u2013 Am I gay? Maybe I like men? Maybe I could tell a close teammate? \u2013 and I did.<\/p>\n I said, \u201cHow do you know when you\u2019re gay?\u201d And he handled it like a joke. Treated it like a joke. And I saw that and it was like instant damage control \u2013 let\u2019s turn that into a joke, too \u2013 and I said some homophobic things and joined in that, and then I buried those questions and thoughts deep down, and never let them out until post-football. He was one of the first to reach out when I came out.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n Putting recent news aside, what did you love about footy? I smile as you ask that. I speak about these moments of not being able to show up as myself, but I bloody loved the game, and I\u2019m so grateful and privileged that I had so many amazing opportunities, through income, people who wanted to know me, and I got to travel the world, and I did have fun. I loved my teammates. It\u2019s a hard one. I love the game so much and what it represents to so many people \u2013 the week-to-week competitiveness, the battle, the stories, everything about it, the training over summer, the want to get better \u2013 and doing that alongside your mates? There\u2019s no better thing in the world. The reason I decided to come out publicly is because I love the game so much.<\/p>\n One of the things I feared most about exiting when I finished up was related to being able to put that jumper on, and the gift it gave you by having an impact on someone\u2019s life by doing so little. I remember I went to a kids\u2019 hospital, and there was a very sick child, I was there for a minute, they knew I was a player but didn\u2019t know who I was, and it was the best part of their day \u2013 they just lit up \u2013 and I sat in the car park afterwards and was like, \u201cWow, when I finish, this is what I\u2019m going to miss most.\u201d And then I left the game and realised we don\u2019t have to have an AFL guernsey on to have an impact on someone\u2019s life.<\/p>\n From there, I just craved meeting people. At school I didn\u2019t choose who my classmates were, and in footy the recruiters chose my teammates. After footy, for the first time, I had the chance to choose my own community \u2013 the people who I wanted to be around and the jobs I wanted to do \u2013 and that\u2019s when I started to really crave connecting to my identity, and I started to build confidence in who I was, people loving and seeing who I am in all my glory and imperfections, including my sexuality, and not feeling ashamed or embarrassed about that.<\/p>\n You questioned whether being bisexual and straight-presenting \u2013 instead of gay \u2013 meant you weren\u2019t the right person to be \u201cthe first\u201d? You also wondered if you weren\u2019t a good enough footballer \u2013 the right champion to be \u201cthe one\u201d? For years I\u2019d have conversations with people and they would say, \u201cMitch, you really should say something. It could mean a lot to people.\u201d And when I approached the journalist about doing this, he asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s your biggest fear in all this?\u201d And it was that people would think I\u2019m a fraud or an imposter. I still go through that now. I have my own internalised biphobia. I\u2019ve heard a lot of people in the queer community go, \u201cWe love your work and we love your voice, but what we really need is a gay man to walk down the red carpet at the Brownlow, holding his husband\u2019s hand.\u201d A lot of things held me back from coming out. For years. But I heard this snippet when I was overseas in Italy with my partner, and it was that the AFL had gone 129 years without a queer player, one of the only sports in the world, and I was just like, I\u2019ve had enough of this, because it\u2019s not true, and it\u2019s not just me. There\u2019s so many others. Let\u2019s just get rid of this stat.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n Ever the stats-driven athlete, a decade after you retired? That was my true KPI I\u2019m most proud of.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next? Keynotes? Settling into a role as unofficial spokesperson every time someone calls for a Pride round? I\u2019ve asked a lot of people for advice on this one. The story came out, and by 3pm I had a missed phone call, and I called it back and it was Sam Mostyn, the governor-general of Australia \u2013 OK, wow \u2013 and she was so nice and she said, \u201cDid you have any questions for me?\u201d And I was like, \u201cWhat do I do now?\u201d And she answered \u201cDon\u2019t stop. Keep speaking out. Keep speaking for those who can\u2019t. Keep speaking for those who don\u2019t have the same support.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m so lucky. I walk a little bit taller and I\u2019m proud of who I am and my queerness, and I just want to be able to share that love and support. Yes, there\u2019s some things I want to get my hands dirty with, especially in the men\u2019s AFL competition, and the culture in the locker rooms around safety and inclusivity. I want to change things, help make reforms, and share my perspective with players, but I also just want to be there for people who don\u2019t have anyone to look up to, especially young boys who are playing football. I want to keep showing up for them.<\/p>\n To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>,The Age<\/a> and Brisbane Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size Mitch Brown played 94 senior games in a decade-long AFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-308204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mitch](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/7ddde613176edaab9e0fcbafdf2a20cdb5d84c98.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"AFL](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/272955370fe583771303915cf7567d9c64f04d4f.jpeg\")
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\nsuspended for a homophobic comment, but \u201che\u2019s been amazing since,\u201d says Brown, who reached out to him after the incident.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n